The Times of India, Dec 18, 2021, 09.47 PM ISTCritic's Rating: 1.5Story: A drunk gravedigger’s family are faced with money and domestic problems, as is an elderly lady in the same village. How will they resolve their issues?
Review: Mathachan and Mary live with their three children in Vellaramkunnu, a small village. Mathachan is a gravedigger, and though he does not have much work, he somehow manages to have enough to buy alcohol every day. Mary works in a quarry to make ends meet for her family, but she loses the job when the government tightens rules against quarrying.
Annamma (Shanti Krishna), who is also from the same village, is an old lady living with her adopted daughter and her son settled abroad. Her son wants her old mother to die, so he can sell the property and settle comfortably with his wife. Mathachan and Mary too are confronted with a problem with their daughter, who has an affair and they want to stop her studies to fix her marriage with someone else.
The film looks at how the two families resolve their domestic situation with the children and bleak finances. The direction and script by Kumar Nanda loses grip at several points and the story lags, with the 140 minute long movie seeming to drag on. The music by Ram Mohan, Rajeev Shiva and MK Arjunan provides a relaxing interruption. Ajeesh Mathai’s cinematography is good. Shanti Krishna and Bhagat Manuel (a cameo) and Sunil Sugatha do a good job in their roles. Lead actors fail to impress, though not for lack of trying. The child artistes do a better job.
- V Vinod Nair